Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus is due to sign its first contracts for large-scale electricity storage batteries on Tuesday as part of efforts to reduce renewable energy curtailments and allow the national grid to absorb more solar power.
The agreements cover 120MW of centralised storage capacity to be managed by the transmission system operator, with officials describing the move as a major step towards addressing a long-standing challenge in the electricity system.
Project timeline and scope
Energy Minister Michalis Damianos said the €50 million project is expected to see the batteries delivered in January 2027 and installed within two to three months, allowing them to begin operating by the summer of that year.
Damianos said Cyprus would have at least 120MW of storage batteries from the transmission system operator in the summer of 2027, adding that photovoltaic energy currently lost because it cannot be stored would then be able to be used.
Purpose of the storage systems
The storage systems are intended to capture excess renewable electricity during periods of overproduction and release it when demand rises. The aim is to reduce the curtailments currently imposed on solar generators across the island.
Background and renewable energy losses
Former energy minister George Papanastasiou told Sigma that the project had been under development since 2023 in cooperation with the European Commission and was designed to address growing losses from renewable energy production.
According to Papanastasiou, about 160,000 megawatt hours of green energy had already been lost by the end of May this year due to curtailments affecting residential photovoltaic systems, commercial solar parks and wind installations.
He said the problem occurs because, during several hours of the day, electricity production from renewable energy sources exceeds demand, leaving significant quantities of energy unable to be used.
Pressure on the electricity system
The issue has intensified in recent years as solar capacity has expanded faster than the infrastructure needed to manage surplus generation.